High Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the force of blood against your artery walls as it circulates through your body. Blood pressure normally rises and falls throughout the day, but it can cause health problems if it stays high for a long time. High blood pressure can lead to heart disease and stroke-leading causes of death in the United States.

A blood pressure level of 140/90 mm Hg or higher is considered high. About two-thirds
of people over age 65 have high blood pressure. If your blood pressure is between  120/80 mm Hg and 139/89 mm Hg, then you have prehypertension.This means that you don’t have high blood pressure now but are likely to develop it in the future unless you adopt the healthy lifestyle .

14 years ago my blood pressure was 210 over 120…..Besides being sky high what do those numbers mean. Well, simply put, the top number is the pressure in your arteries and the bottom number is how hard the heart (pump-muscle) is working to create the top number. The accepted normal blood pressure range is 90 over 60 to 130 over 90.If the top number stays at 160 or goes even higher for a long period of time it can cause a stroke, because the thin veins and arteries in your brain are not designed to handle high blood pressure for long periods of time. If the bottom number stays at 95 or even higher for a long period of time (years), it will cause the heart (pump muscle) to enlarge. As the heart gets bigger and bigger it will stretch or pull apart the heart valves causing leaks or heart failure.

High blood pressure can cause:
Strokes
Heart failure
Heart attack
Hardening of the arteries
Kidney damage
Retina damage in the eyes

Temporary high blood pressure is required by our body to get us out of bed, climb stairs or go running. When we get scarred our blood pressure goes way up in case we need to react to an emergency. This high blood pressure is required to supply the oxygen and other chemistry to the body.
Blood pressure is measured “at rest”, meaning your pulse (heart beat) should be some where around 60-65 beats per minute. If the pulse rate is above 65, then the blood pressure will not be the true “at rest” reading.